These Games We Play
by CSM
Summary: Standing in the middle of the Queen mansion in the eye of the storm, Oliver uttered those three words that forever changed her life, whether she or Olive wanted it to or not. It started with three words and a kiss. Post 2x23 fic. A what if the deleted kiss did happen.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

He asked her if she trusted him.

He asked her if she meant what she said, that he should outsmart Slade. He said that he might have an idea as to how to trick Slade and asked her yet again if she trusted him, if she was willing to risk her life like this. He apologized for his suggestion but her only response is to grab the bull by its horns and slide onto his Ducati looking at him expectantly.

It was nothing like she imagined it, being on his Ducati for the first time, her mind had conjured many different scenarios, none of which involved him taking her to her doom. He apologized again, as they zoomed through the collapsing Starling City around them. He said he could find another way to trick Slade, but she knows this is the best option. She knew _she_ was the best option, because Slade would never see it coming. Oliver Queen in love with her? It was unfathomable and that is what made it the perfect way to outsmart Slade.

When Oliver came to her with the idea he never uttered the L word, no he simply said, "what if Slade thinks he took the wrong girl and it's not Laurel?"

It sounded so ridiculous, it just might work, and they did need to get close to Slade, give him the serum. She was their best option and Oliver hated it but he was right. He apologized the entire time but she yelled at him in loud voice that this was her life and her choice an echo of their conversation a year prior. She never really understood the ramifications of her actions until she was standing in the abandon Queen mansion and Oliver was demanding she stay where she was. The urgency in his voice making her worry, this wasn't part of the plan.

"Oliver!" She called out frantically finally putting her foot down.

He tried to explain to her, his voice insistent, that he needed her safe and away from it all, and with each word she just got more and more confused. Didn't they just agree that she would be used at bait? Why was he suddenly trying to protect her? She fought tooth and nail insisting that she wanted to be unsafe with him and the others until he blurted out that Slade had the wrong woman and then she remembered the cameras.

She only then remembered the set up.

" _Oh_!"

Her soft gasp was that of realization and she hoped she played it off as surprise. Her heart was hammering in her chest as Oliver took a step towards her and he looked at her so tenderly she's beginning to wonder if he remembered the cameras and if he truly just wanted her out of harm's way. She can't forget the urgency in his voice, the way his eyes scanned the abandon building and then looking at her with such certainty.

When he took a step forward, his fingers just barely grasping her elbow and his eyes soft, she began to wonder if she's having an out of body experience. He's sold it already stated that Slade got the wrong woman. She was sure his urgency and insistence that she stay here coupled with her initial confusion was enough. What else could he say? _Then_ she remembers the syringe with the antidote. He forgot to give it to her, she raised her arm to his, knowing that is what he has to give her but then his eyes zero in on her and they grow soft and tender and her heart skips a beat.

" _I love you."_

He said it softly, practically whispered it to her as though it was just a secret shared between the two of them. In that moment she wished that was the case, but as she looked him in the eye, his blue eyes clear and certain, she was beginning to wonder how much of ruse was it truly. He looked down at her, his eyes moving to her lips and then locking with eyes and she knew what was coming. Her heart seized in realization he tilted his head towards her and she wondered if he could hear the rapid beating of her heart in her chest. Was her heartbeat echoing in the abandoned room, or was it part of her imagination, much like this moment?

He was a hair's breath away now, his lips just barely hovering over hers and that's when she realized he's waiting for her to meet him halfway. Without really thinking about it she rose on her toes and brushed her lips against his.

His lips were soft but firm against hers, she could feel the heat of his body radiating off of him. Her heart rate skyrocketed as she leaned into the kiss, her fingers that seemed to have gravitated to his arm dug into the soft leather of his suit. His body shifted slightly, angled away from his bad knee and coincidently toward her. She uncurled her fingers and pressed her palm against his arm, steadying him.

The kiss ends far too quickly for her taste, he pulled back just a fraction of an inch, their hot breaths still mingling together. She was at a loss of words, until she felt the hard plastic of the syringe slip between her free hand and his much large hand encompassed her own. The rough material of his gloves scraped against her knuckles he squeezed her fingers in reassurance, the syringe pressed between them, a firm reminder of her harsh reality.

"Do you understand?" His voice was soft, almost apologetic as he pressed his fingertips against her hand yet again to emphasize his point.

"Yes." She muttered, audible enough to be heard over the speakers, but she couldn't stop her voice from breaking.

Like a bucket of cold water to the face, she violently brought back to her current predicament, the harsh reality of what she must face. Oliver lingered just a fraction of a second, she could feel his gaze fixated on her, but she needed to catch her breath, she needed to reel herself back in. She released a soft gasp as the front door slammed, the sound almost deafening in the abandoned mansion.

She slipped the syringe into her coat pocket, her heart beating fiercely and then she was left with her own thoughts, awaiting the arrival of Slade's men.

* * *

"It's over."

Oliver's tired voice echoes around her and then as he cuts off the comms the silence overtakes her. She looks to Sara with wide eyes; the blonde looks at her sister who is currently breathing heavily as she leans against a pillar. This must be a lot to take in for the brunette, to find out about Oliver, and then the whole being kidnapped by crazy super soldiers. Felicity winces when she realizes Laurel was very much present when Slade called Oliver and threatened Felicity's life.

Felicity shivers at the memory of the cold blade against her skin, the way Slade's men dragged her to the warehouse. She's certain she will have bruises the size of Texas on her arms by tomorrow not to mention the throbbing pain in her head, she can practically feel the dried blood caking her hair to her scalp. Her body aches in places she didn't know existed, she just wants to go home and soak in her bathtub for about 48 hours.

She takes a deep breath and walks around the various nooks and crannies of the warehouse they have been kept in, taking the now familiar walk back to where Slade originally held her. She can hear the sound of sirens in the distance, helicopters circling all the various places in the city, she reaches the open air of the helipad and shivers when she spies Slade Wilson's slumped form tied to one of the large pillars. She shivers on, passing by him and tugs her sweater closer to her. With the surge of adrenaline no longer coursing through her veins, her body is beginning to become sluggish, the night's events catching up to her. But, she continues on, making a beeline for the lone figure overlooking the chaos of the city. Oliver is leaning against a crate, parallel to the city's skyline, his bum leg outstretched. His bow and quiver are in a pile at his feet, his head thrown back against the crate the sheer exhaustion radiating off of him. He's got his mask hung loosely around his neck, his face bruised and battered as Felicity takes a step towards him she can see freshly new cuts and bruises already beginning to form.

"Hey." She calls out softly making sure not to startle him. He scoots a little closer to edge, leaving her room to lean against the crate as well.

She holds onto the edge of the crate and slowly lowers herself next him, her body protesting. Oliver looks her over with concern, his eyes roaming her body and lingering on the bruises beginning to form on her arm. "Are you okay?"

Felicity smiles, trying to not appear as shaken up as she feels, "Nothing a 48 hour bubble bath and probably twice as long nap won't cure."

She can see the beginning of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, but Oliver's bare, but battered fingers brushes against the purple tinge on her skin. She'd since lost her coat, opting to lend Laurel when the young woman had gone into shock. Felicity, herself seemed to be overheating in her trench coat, the adrenaline coursing through her obviously played a part. Now, she's beginning to feel the spring air nip at her skin, her short sleeve cardigan doing little to fight off the cold. She's beginning to wonder if it would be rude to call Sara and ask her to bring back her jacket, when Oliver' low groan catches her attention. She looks to her left just in time to see Oliver easing out of his jacket.

"Oliver, what are you… _oh_."

She gives a short surprise gasp when he drapes the jacket over her shoulders tugging it close at the lapels so it covers her shoulders. It smells mostly of smoke and sweat, but she can also smell the distinct uniqueness that is just _Oliver_ and for some reason that alone brings her warmth, more than a jacket ever could.

They sit in comfortable silence, the chaos in the city going down below them. Oliver's eyes are trained on the chaos, lingering on the smoking building around them. There are so many reassurances she wants to give him, make promises she knows she can't keep. Instead she sits in silence and offers him the only comfort she thinks he's willing to take, which is her company.

"Waller's men are going to detain him til tomorrow." Oliver whispers softly, if his face wasn't inches from hers, she is sure his comment would have been blown away with the wind. "She's organizing a plane to take Slade to Lian Yu tomorrow. She has a special facility on the island to hold him."

Felicity knows there is so much about the island Oliver hasn't told her. She knows there are so many people he'd come in contact with in those five years that she knows nothing about. The ramifications of those secrets is sitting a few feet away from them slumped against pillar and restrained, but she also knows Oliver has his reasons.

"I'll come with."

"Felicity…"

"Dig and I, we'll go with you. Not that you need the backup, or that I can really provide much back up hundreds of feet in the air, but you know for moral support." She prattles off giving him a sheepish smile.

"Thank you, Felicity"

He whispers it softly but the three words are loaded with so much meaning behind it, Felicity can on nod in understanding. She knows Oliver isn't ready to give more than that, and she herself isn't sure if she's ready to ask for more.

She turns her head to look at him, cheek pressed against the collar of his jacket that is loosely wrapped around her. She nuzzles the jacket, humming in appreciation as sleep starts to seep through her bones making her body lax. Her eyes flutter open and she sees Oliver staring back at her, his face only inches from hers. His eyes are warm and affectionate, a look she's beginning to get accustomed to seeing on his face. His lip is red and swollen, an angry red slice marring his previously spotless lips and she's suddenly taken back to the Queen mansion and when he uttered another three loaded words.

She wants to ask him what does this mean, what did _he_ mean when he said all that, but she knows that now is not the time. Oliver's body has all but collapsed next to her, he's both physically and emotionally exhausted. She can save her questions for another time. Oliver's eyes are flickering over her face, taking her in, his gaze never wavering. She's almost certain he's thinking the same thing she is, reminiscing like she is.

His head tilts towards her and her heart seizes in surprise, she's about to tilt her chin up, a silent permission, when the loud, gusting winds caused by helicopter propellers pulls them out of their moment. Oliver's face hardens as the helicopter hovers and Amanda Waller jumps out and lands gracefully in 4 inch heels. If Felicity didn't like the woman, she would have asked her how she maneuvers so easily in 4 inch heels.

Oliver tries to get up, but his bummed knee makes it difficult, Felicity automatically wraps her arms around his waist and tugs him into a standing position. They both grunt simultaneously, him in pain and her at the added weight on her shoulders as they make their way toward Waller.

"Mr. Queen." Waller all but sneers. She takes one look at Oliver's broken state and then Felicity who still has his jacket over her shoulders and the older woman scoffs in disbelief.

"Amanda."

Oliver's grip tightens around Felicity's shoulders, his voice resembles that of the Arrow even without the modulator, but his warning is crystal clear. Felicity, yet again wonders what Oliver's history is with this woman, the level of distrust and dislike is clearly mutual between the two.

"I'm tired of cleaning up your messes, Queen."

"I got rid of the threat, Amanda." Oliver growls in return, "you keep your end of the deal. Keep him sedated. Don't let anyone near him and I'll take him to Lian Yu tomorrow, personally."

Amanda snarls, but glances back at her men who are gathering a passed out Slade into the helicopter, "Alright. I'll see you in 5 hours. I can only hope this is the last time we see each other."

With those final words she stalks off and head back to the helicopter.

"You and me both." Oliver mutters with a deep sigh.

"You should go home. Take a shower, get some rest before tomorrow's journey." Felicity suggest softly, pulling Oliver's thoughts away from Amanda Waller and Slade. The helicopter is all but gone now and the city itself seems so much further than it actually is.

"No home to go to." Oliver grunts in pain as he slips out of her grasps and leans onto a nearby pillar.

"Come home with me." Felicity offers, but as her words catch up with her, she looks to the sky in exasperation, "I don't mean it like a proposition…I mean clearly neither of us.. _ugh_ ….just…why do I even bother?"

This time Oliver _does_ smile at her words, but it last all of a minute before he's shaking his head in the negative, "You go home, get some rest. It may not be the 48 hours you're hoping for, but at least it's a few hours."

She frowns at the obviously dismissal, "Oliver, what are you going to do?"

Oliver sighs deeply, his body now angled away from hers and he looks out into the city horizon, "I just need sometime to myself."

Felicity sighs and slips off his jacket handing it back to him. The request is not unexpected, in fact she's surprised it took him so long ask to be alone, but she's never one to go quietly and Oliver _knows_ that. She takes a step towards him, slipping her fingers through his to gain his attention. When he turns to her, his blue eyes dark and filled with remorse, she can see the exhaustion written all over his face, "Promise me you'll go back to the foundry. Clean up and just _rest_ for a while?"

"I'll try." Oliver offers. It's not the promise she was hoping for, but she knows when to pick her battles. She's about to walk off when Oliver tugs her back gently, her eyes are wide in surprise, "Let me take you home. I don't want you walking back to your apartment in this mess."

"Yea, I don't think the cab service is even activated." Felicity says sheepishly, she had not really thought about how she would get home, just that she was ready to give him space.

"C'mon." Oliver beckons.

He releases his hold on her and pressing his hand against the wall for a brief moment, the pain etched across his face evident. She wants to ask him if he can even drive like this, but knows the question would go on deaf ears, so instead she takes the Arrow jacket from him and holds it out, helping ease back into it. She fiddles with the zipper, wondering if she should pull it up, but Oliver surprises her by taking her hand and guiding the zipper up his torso slowly. She pats his chest lightly and looks up at him affectionately, his eyes dilate and she can hear the way his breath hitches, and she freezes, yanking her hand away as if the material has burnt her.

Oliver looks away, the moment lost and then grunts out her name in calling, his voice rough and unreadable, "Let's go."

She's beginning to wonder if not bringing up the kiss really was her best plan.

* * *

She stands on the beach her hands in her pockets as she gazes around the island, really taking it in for the first time. She can hear birds chirping in the distance, the waves crashing against the shore, the smell of the salty ocean air overtaking her senses. If she did not know the terrors that awaited past those trees, or the ARGUS built super max prison, Lian Yu would look like a tropical paradise. But Felicity knows looks can be deceiving.

She watches the bunker through squinted eyes, her hand pressed gingerly against her forehead as she waits for Oliver's return. She's uncharacteristically quiet and she knows John has picked up on it immediately, but the older man has yet to call her out on it. She suspects he's already figured out that it's got something to do with Oliver, because when is there _not_ a problem.

When Oliver approaches them he looks troubled, she wants to ask him how he feels, but she also knows it's futile. She's gathered enough evidence to come to the conclusion that Slade use to be a friend of Oliver's and in spite of everything he's done, Felicity knows part of Oliver, the guilty part feels some remorse. Oliver's not the same man she met two years ago.

She tunes into the boys conversation just in time to hear Oliver's plans about getting back his family's company. Oh that's right, she has to start looking for a new job.

"That's not going to be easy, seeing as you're poor now. You're going to have to get a job. If Slade doesn't scare you, that's got to," She teases him and she's happy to see the barest hint of a smile.

"You know anyone hiring ex-billionaires with superior archery skills?" Oliver jokes, much to her surprise and it makes her think that things will be okay.

Oliver then looks out into the distance and huffs softly to himself, and all Felicity's hope is shattered. She can practically see the wheels turning in his head, see him begin to close himself off. She needs talk to him _now_ before he has time to process things any further, she throws Diggle a pointed look and bless their friend because he gets it almost immediately and excuses himself.

Once out of earshot Felicity takes a deep breath to gather her courage and takes a few steps to stand in front of Oliver to face him, "Well, you did it."

"I had help." Oliver says humbly and gives her a pointed look.

Felicity nods in agreement, her hands slipping into her pockets as she looks up at him, "It's really smart the way you outfoxed him...I thought...at first I thought you were going against what we agreed on...that you just wanted to keep me safe…"

"Felicity, you know I'll _always_ want to keep you safe." Oliver interjects taking a small step closer to her.

"I _know_. Trust me, I know that…..I just you really had me fooled...I thought, when you told me you loved me and then the kiss...you had me fooled...I thought...I mean I knew about the cameras, hell I was the one to agree with this...but just for a moment I thought….but, talk about unthinkable….you and me, I mean...for a second there I thought you meant it...but the cameras _obviously,_ I figured out what it was. I mean the ruse, I _knew_ it was ruse...you really sold it."

"We both did." Oliver agrees.

She moves just a fraction of an inch closer to him, her breath catches between her throat as she waits for him to deny it. To say that she was wrong, that it wasn't all in her head, that he felt it too, or crush her hopes and confirm that it was in fact all a ruse, but he doesn't. He doesn't say anything really, just stares at her with the barest hint of a smile and she _hates_ that she can't read him, that she can't figure out what he means.

Her shoulder's slump in disappointment, and part of her hates that she expected any more than that. She nods at him and is about to turn on her heels when he grasps the sleeve of her jacket, halting her movements.

"Felicity."

She turns to look at him with curious eyes, and she knows her hope is evident. He takes one look at her lips that are slightly parted and leans forward, but then he squeezes her forearm briefly and takes a step back. "Let's go home."

She offers him a smile and decides to follow his lead, not just to meet Diggle by the plane, but also to put this entire thing behind them. She can more than do that, after all it was just a ruse to begin with.

Except, she can't seem to stop replaying the kiss in her and she can feel her body crave for more.

She is completely screwed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Six Weeks Later**

As far as missions go, this one was supposed to be as easy as they come. In fact she would have hardly called it a mission in the first place. Gathering intel from some low life drug dealer should _not_ have been this difficult. The drug in question was having effects on club goers lowering inhibition and causing chaos throughout the city. The thing is however, there have been rumours about the drug becoming _deadly_ and that's why they are trying to nip it in the bud before it can get worse.

When they got to what they _assumed_ was the base of the operations, it turned out the entire thing was a setup of massive proportions. Instead of finding the warehouse that had the main manufacturing of the new drug that's been taking over the city, they came across an empty warehouse filled with a bunch of thugs who were only there waiting for them. They had found out that distribution of the new drug called venues was being held at the docks miles away. With the SPCD on that drug bust, Oliver, Roy and Felicity were heading to the main head of operations, the only reason Felicity was there was so that she could infiltrate the ridiculous firewalls set up so she can get all the files about the drug deals.

They never anticipated that the entire thing would be a set up for _them_. Oliver in particular hated the fact that not only did they trick them, but Felicity was put in harm's way unnecessarily.

A few hours, and a few more bruises, later the team trudges back into the foundry a little worse for wear. Roy is the first to stagger to the medic bench, as Felicity follows his lead to help stitch up his forearm that got slashed in the fight. His new suit sadly not lasting more than a week without getting torn.

"What are we going to do now?" Roy grumbles, never the best of moods after getting his ass kicked. "This was our last lead. They have us running around in circles."

Felicity helps him out of his jacket, wincing when the red leather pulls where it stuck to his dried blood. She looks across at Oliver questioningly as he puts his bow and quiver away, "Did you get to place it?"

"Three of them. Two on their jackets, I'm hoping that the third one on their motorcycle will take us to the actual base of operations." Oliver answers.

He glances at the computers, then back at Felicity, who is currently stitching up Roy's arm. He takes a step closer examining her work, his foot tapping against the concrete impatiently, which is not lost to Felicity. She rolls her eyes, and simply tugs her stool closer to Roy's arm taking her time to close up the wound, paying no attention to the broody figure looming over her.

"Oliver, you standing there isn't going to get me to hurry up." Felicity remarks dryly, when she hears Roy's soft snort and she jabs him with the needle a little harder than necessary.

It's been a little over a month since they defeated Slade and his army, a very _long_ month. Felicity has both found a new job and _lost_ said new job. The highlight though was when she was kidnapped by Brother Blood, or more specifically Clinton Houghe's lackies. It figures the _one_ guy she gets to interrogate and he's out for her blood, pun not intended.

Things between her and Oliver since 'the kiss' - as Felicity refers to it, only in her head that is - were finally starting to go back to normal, or as normal as things can be between her and Oliver. But, since her kidnapping she's noticed Oliver _hovering_ more than normal. He checks in on her more often than normal and they never go a day without speaking, but yet, much to Felicity's chagrin, things are still at a stalemate and her frustration level has increased tenfold. It's beginning to affect how they conduct their night job and Felicity's almost at her wits end. She promised herself that she would let the issue rest, just like they, or well _she_ implied on Lian Yu, but ever since her kidnapping things have _changed_ yet again, and Felicity is unsure if it's for the better or not.

Felicity _really_ hates uncertainties.

She _feels_ rather than hears Oliver's small huff of exasperation at the base of her neck, her skin breaks out into goosebumps, and for once she is grateful for her black attire for going on the field. She turns her head to the right and sure enough Oliver is standing inches behind her, his boot still tapping against the concrete floor.

" _Oliver_ ," She warns, but he just folds his arms looking at her with a frown and she sighs, offering the needle that still has the nylon looped and attached to Roy's skin.

"Seriously?" Roy asks incredulously.

But she pays him no attention and spins on her stool to peer up at Oliver, who is standing all tall and looming over her trying to appear intimidating but he only looks like a pouting child. Seriously, he's only got his leather pants on, his jacket already back on the mannequin, but his arms are folded over his chest, pulling at the material of his black t-shirt and she momentarily forgets her train of thought at how _good_ he looks.

Felicity shakes her head to clear her mind of _those_ thoughts and looks up at Oliver pointedly, her eyes narrowing, "Go. Change out of your suit, shower, get that grime off you and by the time you're back. I'll have the searches running."

Oliver huffs about to protest but she beats him to that as well, "Oliver, you are not going back out there tonight without any backup. Roy's hurt and John's with Lyla for the night. It's bad enough you and Roy were out numbered out there, we need to have a proper plan in place when _everyone_ present before we can infiltrate. The SCPD were able to get ahold of some the dealers, maybe they can get some information from them about the person in charge. Point is, there is nothing you can do _tonight_."

"Felicity, this thing is going on too long." Oliver all but growls, she knows his frustration isn't directed _at_ her but she doesn't take too kindly to his tone anyway.

"Don't you think I know that Oliver?" Felicity snaps. She knows he's been on edge since her kidnapping, but she really wishes he'd start taking his frustrations on the stupid dummies they have in the foundry and not on her or the team. "I am very aware that this new drug is rampant in the Glades and there is talk of it branching out in other parts of the city as well it becoming _deadly_. I _know_ what's at stake, we all do. Neither Roy nor I are slacking off, but Roy is of no use to you if he's bleeding out, anymore than you are running on empty."

"Yes, gaping wound here, could you two wait till I'm not dying of blood loss before you go at it?" Roy asks dryly, but immediately raises his fingers in defense - the only part of him that can move without irritating his stitches- when both Felicity and Oliver whip around to face him with matching glares.

"Roy, you have two stitches left, you're hardly going to die." Felicity says with exasperation, before she turns back to Oliver and points to the back room that house their bathroom, "Shower."

"Call me as _soon_ as you find something." Oliver warns. Felicity waves him off knowing that Oliver always needs to have the last say. She doesn't bother to point out that the searches could take _hours_ and Oliver will be out of the shower _long_ before that.

Not that she keeps track of his shower schedule, or habits.

She slips back onto the stool, taking the needle from Roy's hand and pointedly ignoring his knowing smirk. She may or may not have added in an extra stitch just for that look, but Roy does not need to know that, the small satisfaction she gets at his winces is good enough for her.

Once Roy is stitched up and taken care off, Felicity immediately returns to her station and begins running the location trackers Oliver planted on the men they fought. Sure enough by the time Oliver is out of shower and dressed in his sweats and t-shirt, she has already determined that one of the trackers has been thrown off. It's location just hovers over the warehouse they were initially at, and Felicity assumes that either it fell off in the scuffle or one of the men is dead and remains in the same spot, waiting to be found.

Oliver moves up behind her, his hand resting on the grooves of her chair, his fingertips just barely grazing her bare shoulder, as she too lost her jacket earlier in the night. Her senses are overtaken by his familiar musty scent and she has to stop herself from leaning back against the chair and breathing it all in.

"What did you find?" He asks, the urgency in his voice is still evident, but the gruffness seems to have been simmered and Felicity is grateful for whatever magical powers that shower possesses.

"One tracker seems to be a no go." Felicity says pointing to the map on her left. She then gestures to the two red dots that are currently on the move, "These however are still in the game. They keep taking random routes to various points throughout the city. I have a program running to mark down each stop they make and will forward the information to Detective Lance. Hopefully, he's leading us straight to the dealers."

"What about the third one?" Oliver asks. This time he leans over her shoulder and peers at the screens, she can feel the heat radiating off of him, the fresh smell of soap and shampoo tickling her senses.

She leans forward, more to put some distance between them, but plays it off as her reaching for the keyboard to switch the maps. Another thing she's noticed, and hates, is that she's so attuned to these things. Ever since they shared a bottle of wine the night she was kidnapped, things have changed. She sensed a change in their relationship, a change in Oliver. She is much more aware of Oliver's presence, to a point that she realizes _he_ seems much more attentive to her, and his small touches linger longer than normal. At the same time, he sometimes just completely switches _off_ on her and he returns to that grumpy, broody man she's use to.

She has however noticed that those particular moods only seem to arise when she is faced with sudden harm. Twice she's been in the field with them, and both times things have not gone as planned and Oliver was equally growly on both occasions. She knows her kidnapping spooked him, hell she still allows him to take her home every night and check out her apartment, and it's not _just_ for his peace of mind. She too is still rattled by her few days tied to a chair and feared for her life.

That being said, she only wished Oliver wouldn't take out his frustrations when something goes wrong on her and the team. But she knows getting Oliver to talk about his emotions would be like talking to the wall, in fact she suspects she would have better luck with the wall than with Oliver. After all, that day on the beach _she_ was the one that did all the talking and Oliver just nodded in agreement.

Not that she's _bitter_ about it.

Well not completely.

"This one has not moved since I've started running the searches." Felicity informs him, her finger hovering over the bright red dot unnecessarily.

"Where…"

"Pinewood." Felicity cuts him off as she sits back in her seat turning her body to face him. It's not until the soft material of his t-shirt lightly brushes against her cheek, does Oliver realize how close he has been leaning towards her, and he takes a step back, his eyes roaming the computer screens instead of her.

 _Yeah_ , lingering touches but yet sometimes he purposely puts five feet between them. Oliver has clearly mastered the art of mixed signals. Felicity briefly wonders if he picked that one up on the island as well.

"Pinewood, do you think one of those men lived in the suburbs?" Oliver asks with a frown.

The drug dealers they have come across are always on two sides of the spectrum, either the low lives in the Glades, who waste their days away getting high, or the businessmen who live downtown and _run_ the drug companies within their own companies, hiding behind their corporate personas.

"Possibly, I'm hoping when the last one stops for the night we'll be able to have a better idea," Felicity explains, her fingers dancing across the keyboard.

"Blue collar guy moved yet?" Roy asks as he returns from his own shower, a towel on his head as he dries his hair. Felicity scowls when she realizes it's not the bath towels she set aside in the bathroom, but her nice _hand_ towels.

"We don't know that he's blue collar, Roy."

"Pinewood isn't exactly a _rich_ neighbourhood. People in Pinewood are only one step up from most of us living in the Glades." Roy points out.

He leans against the table, peering the computer screens, he tosses the towel to the empty table behind him, but on seeing Felicity's glare, he quickly picks it up and tosses it over his shoulder, ensuring that he will take it back to its rightful place. Felicity narrows her eyes and Roy raises his hands up in defense again, taking a step away from her.

"I don't think he lives there." Oliver calls out, pulling them both out of their non-verbal stare off, Roy has another thing coming if he thinks Felicity will be picking up after him.

"Unless those two are living together?" Felicity offers, "you never know selling and making illegal substances could be the new way to meet people."

To her surprise both men exchange matching scowls, before Oliver turns to her seriously, "they are not."

When Roy _grunts_ in agreement, she knows she's better off not knowing how they know that. She remembers all too well the moment one of the thugs found her in her hiding space, but the man barely had time to _leer_ at her before he had two green arrows in the thighs, bringing him to his knees almost immediately.

That probably explained their stationary tracker.

Yes, sometimes she's better off not knowing things, especially when Roy is almost as growly as Oliver is. She turns to the screens and presses a few keys, frowning when she is unable to locate any street cams that focuses on the location, neither are their any house cameras in the area.

"Looks like Roy's right, Pinewood isn't exactly the elite citizens of Starling. There are no street cameras pointing towards the area, or home cameras either. According to this the property is Pinewind- _that's_ original - Villas. It's a small apartment complex with absolutely no security cams. Are we still sure the two blurry men aren't shacking up?"

Off Oliver and Roy's annoyed looks, Felicity raises _her_ hands in defense and goes back to typing, after a few minutes she frowns, her head tilting to the side, "Well _that's_ not normal."

"What isn't?" Oliver asks impatiently, his hand resting on her shoulder as he leans forward.

"There is some kind of encrypted network, something that is _not_ normal for a small suburban apartment. It's similar to the last one that led us to the warehouse." Felicity frowns, keyboard clicking as she tries to fight through the firewall, but with no avail.

"Does that mean it's another setup?" Roy asks with a frown, "why would they go to the suburbs?"

" _Exactly_!" Felicity says excitedly in realization, her eyes wide as she turns to face both men, " _Why_ would they go there? No would suspect them to be hidden in plain sight like that. These kind of apartment complexes allows them to set up internet and other networks without landlords or cable companies batting an eyelash. They should be able to afford it so no one is suspicious, but these landlords are probably like mine, in that they only need to see you for your money, and will take care of things if you ask, but otherwise they don't live on the compound to see anything. People in the suburbs tend to turn a blind eye to things going within the neighbourhood, unlike the Glades where people _expect_ it. It's _brilliant_ really."

"Alright, how about we stop admiring their ability to outsmart us and figure out how to stop them?" Oliver grumbles impatiently.

" _That_ might be harder than originally anticipated." Felicity says sheepishly. She braces herself for the inevitable Oliver blow up, but is surprised when Oliver only looks at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue. "We need… _I_ need a way to get closer to the basis of operations without raising suspicions."

 _"No_." Oliver growls, "tonight was a close call as it is. We'll find another way, I'll take one of those USBs and stick it in their computer or whatever for you."

"Can the Arrow run around the suburbs without being seen?" Roy asks with a frown, "I mean it's not like Pinewood is a place we frequent often."

"Roy's right, and the best time to see the place, without raising suspicions would be during the day anyway." Felicity points out. She tenses as she continues to lay out her plan, knowing that Oliver will not like _this_ particular suggestion. "I was thinking, this _is_ an apartment complex, what if I make an appointment with the landlord to see the apartments, I can have direct access to their mainframe. It will be quick and easy and they won't suspect a thing."

"And what if the landowner is also part of the entire operation?" Oliver counters, surprising her when he does not shut down her suggestion immediately, "You aren't going alone, I'll go with you."

Felicity freezes at his words, she's almost 100% certain that Oliver has not thought this through, much like _many_ of his plans. With Oliver, only the endgame is his goal, getting to that point is neither here nor there, which is probably why he values her input most times.

"Oliver, I'm going as a potential house owner, to look at apartments on _sale_." She speaks slowly, hoping she doesn't have to spell it out for him.

"I'll just go with you." Oliver says easily, despite his words she can she the tops of his ears pinking slightly. It's somewhat comforting to know that he is very much aware of what they are both implying without actually saying. "We're not actually going to _buy_ an apartment, we can just let the landlord think that. Besides, you'll need me to talk to the landlord while you get onto the system. Easy enough right?"

Famous last words.

Felicity bites her lip giving him strained smile, she does not bother to point out that she thinks it will be anything but. But, if Oliver seems so cool with the idea, she can adapt as well, she looks across at Roy and scowls when the younger man just smirks knowingly at her. She makes a mental note to change all the icons on Roy's phone to dancing ponies, just to irritate him.

* * *

She gets into contact with the landlord of Pinewood Villas and they agree to meet her as early as the next day. Something she is grateful for, because she did not want to have to explain to Oliver that they could not get a meeting until the following week. She's not really sure what to expect with this little outing, things between her and Oliver have been weird enough as it is because of her kidnapping and 'the kiss'.

She really needs to stop referring it like that or one day when she brings it up she's going to use the quotation marks. Not that she plans on bringing it up, but better safe than sorry.

They are going to be potential renters and have to discuss things about living together, and probably be all touchy and stuff and she's not too sure she's ready for that. She and Oliver haven't discussed anything, other than the fact that he said he would pick her up. She just hopes that he does _not_ pick her up in the ducati, who knows what kind of message that will send to the homeowners if they see that. People can be so discriminating when looking for renters and yet don't even realize that some of their renters are conducting illegal drug manufacturing right under their noses.

Felicity shakes her head clutching her large handbag to her chest, making a mental list of all her tech within her bag, when the familiar navy blue car pulls up, she frowns when she sees John at the front seat and for once he seems amused at his current job. Sure enough Oliver slips out from the back seat dressed in _three_ piece suit, and while Felicity very much appreciates the look, it's so _not_ the thing you wear to look at apartments.

"What?" Oliver asks with a frown noticing her look of disbelief and tugs on the lapels of his jacket uncomfortably as he steps out of the car.

"You can't wear _that_ to look at apartments in Pinewood!" Felicity says exasperated, "you need to look homey and approachable. A suit and tie just screams stuck up and full of money, neither of which you are."

Diggle guffaws at her remark, not even bothering to hide his grin when Oliver scowls at him, "I told you all this was too much, including asking _me_ to take you. I also told you this entire plan is a bad idea."

"The only reason you are coming is so that I have backup in case anything goes wrong." Oliver growls and Felicity knows immediately that the snappy words between the two are _not_ about back up at all and something else completely.

Felicity sighs in exasperation and takes a step towards Oliver, her fingers tugging on his tie. She barely notices his wide eyes as she grabs the knot of the tie and loosening it, "You need to lose the jacket, roll up the sleeves and get rid of this tie."

She tugs at the tie gently, her fingers grazing against the stubble at Oliver's neck and when his breath hitches she becomes all too aware of their proximity or more precisely how intimate her gesture is. But, she can't exactly stop and so she ploughs on through, fully aware of how tense he is. She takes his tie and stuffs it into her handbag and then removes the jacket tossing it into the back seat of the car.

"Felicity."

Oliver stutters her name, but she's already beginning to undo the cufflinks and now his fingers now grazing _her_ skin and this time when she breaks out into goosebumps she does _not_ have the luxury of her long sleeve shirt to hide her reaction.

She pauses in uncertainty, her fingers hovering over the cufflinks and she stares at the crisp white sleeve almost as though she's unsure how she got to this point. A large hand covers hers and slips the button out of the hole, she tilts her head skywards and sees Oliver's eyes boring into her but when he offers her his hand she takes that as an invitation to continue. She quickly works on rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, her fingertips just barely teasing the wisps of hair on Oliver's arms and this time she can see the way they stand at attention.

"I don't know what possessed you to wear a three piece suit," Felicity says in exasperation. The silence between the two of them rattling her and she continues with her train of thought despite her better judgment. "If they think we have more money that we actually do they are going to double the price of rent. Hell we could even offend them for looking there."

"I wanted to make a good impression," Oliver says sheepishly. He is just so _honest_ in his words that Felicity pauses and looks up at him thoughtfully her head tilting to the side his slightly confused expression making her smile, "what now?"

"You've never done this before."

"Look at apartments to rent with a… wife?" Oliver poses it as a question full of uncertainty, his cheeks are red in embarrassment. "No. I can't say I have, Felicity."

"Oh!" Felicity squeaks in surprise, they conveniently forgot to work out their cover stories. "Um maybe we just leave it up to assumption, it's not like we'll need actual documentations for this. We'll just use a lot of the word 'we'. I don't think the landlord would even care to be honest."

She prattles off an excuse, her heart hammering in her chest as Oliver nods in agreement but she looks away before she sees his crestfallen expression. She turns her focus back on his shirt sleeves and silently works on folding them up. She moves to the collar of the shirt and begins to unbutton the first few buttons but when her fingers graze his sternum Oliver coughs uncomfortably and her cheeks pink up in embarrassment.

She takes a step back and takes in her handy work, Oliver is looking at her with wide eyes as she nods in approval she raises on her tip toes, cursing her choice of ballet flat and ruffles his hair that is a tad longer than he usually wears it. It's not until Oliver's breath hitches at her proximity that she registers what exactly she was doing, yet again. She pulls back her hand as though she's been burnt and looks at up at him sheepishly, but Oliver slight smile makes hers blossom and she grins at him proudly.

"Now you are a little bit more laid back, which I think these people will look for."

"So you're going as newlyweds then?" Diggle quips from the front seat of the car, smirk gracing his features and Felicity _knows_ he's purposely bringing up the conversation yet again.

Felicity narrows her eyes at him but before she can retort _Oliver_ speaks up first, "Like Felicity said. It's none of her business."

"Technically, I said she should not _ask_ ," Felicity points out, at which Oliver simply rolls his eyes gesturing for her to get into the car. "I requested one of the apartments in the East wing which is where I was able to narrow down the trackers. According to google maps -I can't believe I had to resort to dated google maps to find images of these Villas- it's almost like a small little community with about 5 main buildings surrounding the main park and the apartments range from studio apartments to 3 bedrooms. If they were able to maintain them, it would be a nice place to live, but from the few pictures, the villas have seen better days."

"You're not actually going to be living there, Felicity." Diggle points out on seeing her put out expression.

"Oliver Queen." Felicity mutters almost in revelation, her mind no longer on the condition of the apartments but something else completely

"That's not a good thought." Diggle quips from the front seat looking at her questioningly through the rearview mirror Oliver is equally curious and concern at her random outburst.

" _You_ would never consider slumming it in _Pinewood_." Felicity bemoans. "We didn't think this through, your family probably _funded_ the building of some of these communities back in the day. If you go in there looking for an apartment they might get suspicious, hell it could be a terrible botched version of Undercover Boss. They are going to _know_ we aren't there to look at buildings. This undercover mission is failing before we even start."

"I don't know what that means, but we haven't failed anything." He places a hand on her bare knee making her jump in surprise at the gesture, but to her surprise he does not remove her hand but brushes her thumb against the curve of her knee, "everyone knows I lost my family's company including the mansion and all the Queen family assets. It's not a far stretch to think I'm downsizing my living situation."

Felicity nods in agreement at his words, he _does_ have a point. She looks up at Oliver and her heart aches on seeing the turmoil on Oliver's face. With Thea gone Felicity knows Oliver has been feeling guilty of the loss of everything his family ever owns. She takes his hand in hers and squeezes it lightly, gaining his attention and hopefully pulling him out of his mood. She knows there is nothing she can say to make it better, but the moment their eyes meet and the understanding crosses Oliver's face, she can feel the way the tension leaves his body.

Oliver rubs his thumb over her knuckles and smiles at her gratefully. His eyes full of warmth and it's not the first time she begins to question whether or not his words that faithful night had more truth to it than either of them have admitted. If that _kiss_ meant something to him, maybe even as much as it did to _her_.

He looks down at their clasped hands for a moment, her fingers dwarfed by his much larger hand, she can feel the rough callouses of his fingertips against the soft palm of her hand. He moves his finger slowly against her, mimicking that anxious tick he usually has when he is eager to pick up his bow, and it's not the first time she wishes she could read minds.

She wishes she could ask him what is going through his mind, but she knows that would be impossible, but she has never been one to back down from a challenge, so why would she start now?

"Oliver?" She ventures softly, but her voice seems to have pull Oliver from whatever trance he seems to have been and to her disappointment Oliver slips his hand out of hers and looks across as her with a strained smile.

"Thank you," he murmurs just before he inches away from her and turns to face out of the window.

Felicity sighs softly as she mimics his own actions curling into herself, her head pressing lightly against the window, once again despite their close proximity she feels as though there are oceans between them.


	3. Chapter 3

She stands at the entrance to the loft dressed a ratted, old overall and a white and black polka dot crop top, her go to attire for moving days. She can't believe this is her life right now, three weeks ago her biggest concern was balancing both of her jobs. She admits now, that her day job was suffering _terribly_ because of her night job and never really fully appreciated the benefits of working with your boss both in the daytime and the night, until now. Suffice to say she's not _terribly_ surprised at being fired from Kord Industries, although she takes offense in her former boss relaying the message _through_ her friend, and firing a kidnapped woman in the first place.

Speaking of said _friend_ , things between them had _finally_ gone back to normal and then she had to go and get kidnap, _then_ share a bottle of wine. _Now_ , things are awkward and to make matters worse she and Oliver are not only fake _married_ , but also living together.

She's never lived with a _boy_ before, like at _all._ She's almost certain she does not want to learn the intimate details of living with a man from Oliver Queen. Okay, that's a _lie_ , but their already fragile relationship - _friendship-_ does not need to be tested by them being in close quarters like this.

She looks up at the tiny bedroom loft, the small living room/dining room combo, they are practically going to be on top of each other and _not_ in the good way.

"Smoaky, if you aren't going to help at least move out of the way." Roy's low grunt behind her has Felicity jumping in surprise. She turns to yell at him but stops when she sees him struggling with one of her boxes.

"Oh! Be careful with that! Just put it on the floor here I have to find space for it somewhere." She bites her lip and scans the small apartment slightly put out by the lack of space.

"Is this a _rock_ collection? What the hell do you even have in here, Smoaky?"

Felicity glares at Roy, ever since the day he inadvertently heard that story he's gone out of his way to call her that Felicity is just about ready to throttle him. "They are my computers, so _please_ try not to drop them."

The request sounds pleasant enough, but Roy is smart enough to know that it's layered with a threat and the younger man just nods his head and hauls the box towards the living room, the only place left in the small, apartment to fit it.

"Felicity," Oliver voice is full of exasperation but still slightly out of breath as he deposits another box onto the lone kitchen counter. Of course today of all days the elevators stop working. The boys are bare chested at this point as they haul box after box.

Not that Felicity is complaining in the slightest, she made a slight quip about the vigilante-ing having paid off and she doesn't think they appreciated her joke. She wipes her dirty hands on the sides of her shorts and looks across at Oliver just in time to see him divert his eyes away from her legs. So maybe her short overalls that she's had since she was 19 were not the best thing to wear but it's her go to moving outfit and the 90 degree weather is not helping anything either.

When she sees Oliver close his eyes and _lick_ his lips, her body heats up at the thought that she pulled _that_ reaction from him. "Is _all_ that really necessary?"

She freezes at his words, but then realizes he's not talking about her outfit, but her box of computers that Roy is now going through. She stalks over to Roy, momentarily ignoring Oliver and his stupid face and slapping the younger man's shoulder before she yanks the two keyboards from his hands and then spins around to face Oliver, "Did I begrudge you for bringing your toys?"

She gestures to his trunk that holds his old bow and arrows, that is taking up the entirety of the coffee table. Oliver grunts, "I seem to remember you complaining about it when you brought it up here."

"We're in the suburbs, Oliver. You can't go shooting that thing all willy nilly."

"I'm not going to….where do you plan on even putting those computers?"

"Wow, you two really got that married thing down."

"Shut up, Roy."

Roy raises his hands and backs away from Felicity who is closer to him, and Felicity is not above slapping her friend for his comment. His running commentary has been going on since the boys came to her apartment to collect her stuff and Felicity suspects she's just taking out her nervousness of living with Oliver 24/7 on Roy.

"Alright, this is the last of it." Diggle calls out, the distraction very much welcomed as he rolls two of Felicity's suitcases into the apartment.

"Great!" Felicity says with a loud clap, "If this was the 50s...or you know if I could _cook_ , I'd offer to whip something up for you boys in return. But, since it is not and I'm certainly _not_ Chef Smoak. I ordered pizza, our usual and it should be here soon."

"I wish I could, but Lyla and I have a doctor's appointment in an hour." Diggle apologizes, but Felicity can see the smile tugging at his lips and her friend's excitement is evident.

"Are you going to find out the sex?" Felicity asks eagerly, "I got a lotta money riding on the team betting pool."

"What betting pool? Why didn't I know about this? I want in."

"There is no betting pool." Oliver answers, his tone full of exasperation but he's smiling at Felicity, his amusement obvious.

"Well no, but if there was one, I'd be winning." Felicity replies cheekily. She sticks her tongue out at Oliver playfully and earns a short laugh at her childish behaviour.

"Okay, I'm gonna go. I'll text if we find out, and you two call me if you get any leads on your neighbours." Diggle says as he grabs his worn t-shirt hanging over the lone couch in the room.

He sends Oliver a pointed look at which Oliver nods in return and Felicity is beginning to suspect something is going on there and she's almost 100% certain it's about her.

"I'm out as well." Roy grabs his own t-shirt tugging it over his head, shrugging his shoulders at Felicity's disappointed look, "Sorry Smoaky, I'm not third wheeling today. I promised Mrs. Grey at the youth centre I'd help out today."

"I'll drop you off." Diggle offers as he makes his way to the front door not before waving off Oliver and Felicity.

When the front door slams shut, the apartment is filled with eerie silence, Oliver stands in the kitchen, his hands resting on the closed boxes, fingers tapping against it silently.

"And then they were two." Felicity quips breaking the tension, offering Oliver a small smile.

When Oliver doesn't respond Felicity sighs softly to herself and moves to the balcony, nudging open the glass door slightly. The scorching summer heat hits her in the fact and she winces quickly closing the door once again, "It's so hot."

"The apartment should cool down now that we aren't coming and going anymore."

It's the slight hesitation in his tone that has Felicity turning around to face him and looks at him questioningly. Oliver's fingers curl against the countertop as he shifts from one foot to the other and Felicity suspects she is not going to like what he has to stay.

"You know you don't have to stay here. I can case out the place and then once everything is fine I can call you…"

He trails off when Felicity stalks over to the counter and now stands directly opposite him, only the counter to separate them and Felicity takes perverse pleasure in watching him visibly flinch, "Oliver, do you remember what we talked about yesterday?

"You said that if you ever wanted to leave the team that I'd be the first to know and until then I'm not allowed to make decisions for you."

He prattles off her words almost word for word that it throws Felicity off slightly, she never expected him to pay attention that closely. However, when Oliver looks away slightly troubled Felicity's frustration dissipates almost immediately, she sighs and stretches her hand over the counter to clasp Oliver's hand tugging it lightly, forcing him to look at her, "Oliver, nothing is going to happen to me. I know what happened last week spooked you but…"

"Felicity, you were missing for _four_ days, two of those I didn't even _know_ you were missing." Oliver confesses, his voice cracking slightly and his grip tightens around her fingers, "It didn't spook me. I've never been so _scared_ in my life. After Slade...after I used you as _bait_ , I made a promise to myself I'd _never_ put you in that situation again. Then, not even a month later and you go missing and it took me two _days_ to even realize something was wrong and I…"

"Oliver, that wasn't your fault." Felicity implores. She moves from behind the counter and walks towards him, their hands still clasped, "Blood was out for...well _blood_ since I was sharing his money like Halloween candy. Not that I _deserved_ to have my apartment completely ransacked and then tied up for days at end. The only one to blame was _them_ , no one else. Did it ever occur to you that I threw myself into the latest problem, because I didn't want to be at home longer than I needed too? Why do you think I agreed to this so easily?"

" _Felicity_." Oliver voice hitches on her name, his hand moving up her bare arm leaving goosebumps in its wake as he grasps her shoulder and takes a step closer to her, "Why didn't you say anything?"

Felicity shrugs sheepishly, she did not expect the first few minutes of 'living' together that she would open up to him about _this_ of all things. She promised she'd keep it to herself as to not worry him and get that very look of concern he has on in face now, "I knew you stuck around when you'd take me home this past week and I'd try and fall asleep before you left…"

It sounds ridiculous even when she says it out loud, but Oliver only sighs out her name and unexpectedly pulls her into a hug. She lets out a soft squeak of surprise, but wraps her arms around his waist and sinks into his embrace. This goes beyond the invisible boundaries they have set since that kiss in the mansion, but Felicity doesn't care, for the first time in days that tightening in her chest that she had been experiencing from her kidnapping has lessened. "It's stupid...I know...I've been kidnapped before…"

"Hey, no! It's not stupid and I would never want you to get _use_ to being kidnapped." Felicity only nods pressing her nose against his chest and that's when she realizes that Oliver is very much shirtless and her face is resting on his very _naked_ chest. "It's different because this happened at home, the other two times, you were at the office and then you _knew_ it was happening. This was different, it's expected that you'd have trouble with it. After all of this is sorted out, we'll think up something to help, okay?"

"Okay." Felicity whispers softly. They stand like that in the middle of _their_ home and in another lifetime, Felicity could imagine this tiny little space being their first home, she shakes her head freeing it from _those_ kind of thoughts and instead says the first thing that pops in her mind, "You're _really_ sweaty."

Felicity closes her eyes, not believing that out of all the things she could have said _that_ is what came out. It's not a lie though, she can feel the sweat running down the hard contours of Oliver's back and the rough edges of one of his scars against her fingertips. Oliver only huffs out a short laugh in response. She pulls back slightly to look him in the eye and he's smiling down at her, his eyes almost twinkling with mirth and she can't help but smile in return. She can feel the way his thumb brushes against the small span of bare skin between her overalls and crop top. The rough edges of his thumb sending a jolt of warmth through her body, and she has to remind herself to breathe.

"I wished you would smile more." She confesses softly, she feels the moment he tenses in her arms and she's immediately regretting her decision, before she could backtrack do _something_ there is a knock on the door.

" _Pizza_!"

"Ah cheesy goodness has arrived." Felicity blurts out already slipping out of Oliver's arms, her cheeks red as she grabs her handbag, making sure not make eye contact with Oliver who is still standing in the kitchen lost in thought.

She opens the door and smiles warmly at pizza boy who looks no older than 17 holding two pizzas in his hand, but when the kid sees Felicity his eyes bug out and he releases a low whistle, "Damn girl, you plan on eating all this by yourself? Or do you want company?"

Felicity narrows her eyes, she's about to take the punk ass kid down a notch or _ten_ , when she feels a hand on her waist and the solid weight of Oliver behind her. "Is this how you treat all your customers, _Brian?_ Or do I need to call your manager and ask him?"

By the end of his question the scrawny kid is practically shaking in his converse, his head moving from side to side, and he's shoving both boxes into Felicity's empty hands. She barely is able to offer him the cash, before the kid plucks a 10 from her hand and runs off.

"You forgot the rest of your money!" Felicity calls out, but Brian is already flying down the hallway. She frowns, pizza still in her hands, she turns on her heels and narrows her eyes at Oliver, "What did you do?"

"Felicity, you were _right_ there. You heard what I said." Oliver points out as he takes the pizza from her hand and moves to the counter in the kitchen. "Besides, it's better I scare him than you find out the kid's name and destroy his credit score."

Felicity scowls when she's Oliver smirking at her knowingly, "What credit score? He looked like 17 at most."

"So you _were_ thinking about a silent attack then?" Oliver teases.

Felicity scrunches up her nose but only huffs in response earning a small laugh from Oliver. It's such a rare thing to see that she doesn't bother to press the issue and only holds out her hand to accept the plate filled with her specific slice of pizza.

The pizza is halfway to her mouth when she realizes she's holding a _plate_ in her hand, not some disposable ones that she tossed into one of her boxes. The apartment came fully furnished minus kitchen utensils such as pots and pans and they'd agree to just bring the necessities of clothes, ceramic plates were certainly not from _her_ apartment.

"We have plates." She says stupidly, she holds up the plate to examine it properly, "How do we have plates?"

Oliver chuckles again wiping his mouth with a napkin, when did they even get _napkins_ Felicity doesn't even remember the last time she did groceries. "I took some kitchen stuff out of storage. After we lost the house I started packing some of my mother's favourite things in storage."

"This is _china_?" Felicity asks scandalized as she raises the plate higher to inspect it, her plate that has melted cheese dripping along the edges, "Oliver, are we eating _pizza_ on your mother's $500 plate?"

Oliver only shrugs his shoulders nonchalant as he resumes eating his pizza, "I hardly think it was $500 a plate."

" _Oliver_ , so _not_ the point." Felicity says in exasperation, but takes a bite into her pizza nonetheless.

"We probably need to make a list of things we need and make a trip to the grocery." Oliver says thoughtfully as he goes for his second slice, "I don't think the pizza would last more than today."

Felicity pauses from going for _her_ second slice and looks at him incredulously, "Who _are_ you?"

To her surprise Oliver only smiles sheepishly in return, "It's been awhile since I've had something more than an office fridge and you know a kitchen to fill."

"You cook?" Felicity asks curiously.

This time Oliver only smiles in embarrassment at her question, "When I first got back from the island, I'd help Raisa cook some meals and I realized it...it was calming for me."

She rests her elbow on the counter and leans forward to listen and her movement seems to have encouraged Oliver to open up more. He takes a seat on the stool and spins it to face her, their knees knocking as he gets comfortable. "I tried to keep at it for a while, but after Tommy, then Slade…I guess I never saw the point. It's boring to cook for myself as well."

"I guess we are both using this arrangement for something." Felicity whispers. Oliver's blue eyes are piercing into her and it's the first time in weeks they have been so honest with each other, and she's always wondering if she pushed him more than he wanted.

"We could have done worse."

She almost huffs in offense until she sees the small smile tugging at the corner of his lips and she realizes he's _teasing_ her. She then narrows her eyes at him for a brief moment, before she tilts her head and takes in his entire form, her eyes roaming his body from head to toe, her intent clear. She then shrugs her shoulder being nonchalant as possible,"Eh."

To her surprise though, Oliver does not laugh instead his eyes bore into hers and her breath hitches when she feels Oliver's calf rub against her own his next words almost making her drop his mother's $500 plate. "There isn't anything better."

Her cheeks flame instantaneously at his remark, and she wonders if Oliver just realized what he implied. He basically said that he couldn't get a better _wife_ than her. But in true Oliver Queen fashion he only smiles at her and then goes about his business like he never said anything. He slips off of the stool and makes his way to their two door fridge fixing them both drinks, which was really just iced water because they had nothing else in the apartment.

"C'mon finish your pizza and then we'll look for somewhere to put your computers." Oliver says with a smile as he offers her a drink.

After they had their pizza both she and Oliver argued for over an hour trying to figure out where to put her computers, in the very little space they already had. There was some snapping and some growling (Oliver obviously being the latter) until Felicity just threw up her hands in defeat and stalked up to the loft to make the bed and just unpack most of her things. By the time she washed her hair and took a good long shower she was feeling much better and ready to apologize to Oliver for snapping at him.

She walks down the narrow flight of stairs leading from the loft and comes to a halt at the sight that greets her by the little nook on the right. Oliver removed the large cushion in the nook and placed her three computer screens along with her two keyboards. He then used the large cushion that was there and placed it on the small coffee table, making it into a makeshift seat for Felicity to sit on.

She never expected Oliver to actually find a space for her computers though, to say she's surprised would be an understatement. She stands at the foot of the stairs, looking at Oliver's handy work with a smile. She turns on her heel to see Oliver's busy tightening the string on his old bow.

"You didn't have to do that." Felicity says, already feeling guilty for snapping at Oliver earlier.

Oliver only gives her pointed look in return and Felicity gives him a sheepish grin they both know she can't possibly do her job if she doesn't have her computers. Okay, that's a lie she could do it once she has her tablet and wifi but this instance she needs more than that.

She moves to the love seat to sit next to Oliver but frowns when she sees the ratty grey blanket Oliver usually keeps on the cot at the lair. "So are you taking shifts with various parts of your body in order to sleep on this couch?"

"What?" Oliver asks in confusion.

"Ugh, that sounded so much wittier in my head." Felicity says sheepishly. "You can't possibly fit on that couch. We'll share the bed."

"Felicity, you don't have to….I don't want you to be uncomfortable after…" Oliver trails trails off his cheeks turning slightly rosie in embarrassment.

Felicity knows immediately where his train of thought is going and she'd be damned if he uses their kiss as an excuse like this. She raises her hand to cut him off before he says something she's not ready to hear. "Oliver, it's fine. We're friends, we can share a bed without things being weird. That _fake_ kiss was ages ago, we both agreed that is was all for the ruse, it's no big deal. _This_ is no big deal."

She's protesting far too much for her to actually sound convincing, and if she wasn't looking at Oliver she probably would have missed the pinched look he had on his face before he looked away. But, as with most things, her brain can't seem to control her mouth, and she ploughs on through never missing a beat. "I didn't buy you a proper bed last week, for you to end up playing human pretzel on this couch. _I_ can't even fit comfortably on this thing. We'll share the bed."

"Okay." His agreement comes so easily, so _swiftly_ that Felicity almost snaps her neck when she looks across at him in surprise, but Oliver's face is unreadable as he rises to his feet. "I'm going to take a shower and then head to bed."

His voice is low and detached and he refuses to make eye contact with her. Felicity frowns in confusion as she watches him make his way of the narrow staircase, and all she can do is echo his earlier words, " 'kay."

Once he disappears into the loft bedroom, she collapses against the couch releases a soft huff in annoyance, unsure what brought on the latest cold shoulder treatment. By the time she eats dinner and heads upstairs to the loft bedroom Oliver is already on the side of the bed closest to the stairs and fast asleep. She slips into her side of the bed hoping that tomorrow will be different.


	4. Chapter 4

Oliver wakes with a start the heat of the loft almost stifling him until the smell of coconuts overtake his senses. It's only then does he realize the heat he's experiencing isn't the summer heat that seems to have hovered in the loft bedroom, but instead it's the warm body that's flushed against him. His entire body tenses in surprise, he can feel the tips of blonde hair tickling his nose, and sure enough as his eyes adjust to the dark room he can just barely make out a mass of messy blonde hair and he finds himself taking in a deep breath yet again. The familiar and comforting smell of coconut and something that's uniquely Felicity warms him to the core.

He can feel Felicity's face pressed against his chest, her cold nose rubbing against his bare skin as he feels small puffs of air as she breathes. She's dead to the world, he knows it by the way she scuffles every few breaths. Felicity has been known to fall asleep in the foundry more often than not, and sometimes on slow nights when he and Dig would come back from parole they'd find her curled up over her desk, using an old hoodie of hers as a pillow. Sometimes, she would startle awake the moment their feet hit the landing, other times it takes them four - sometimes five times - to rouse her and almost always when she's dead to the world, she's snoring softly.

The few rare nights when it's just the two of them and Oliver would get back to find her sleeping, he'd sit and watch her for a while, almost mesmerized by the way her nose wrinkles as she sleeps. He'd even take off her glasses for her and let her catch some shuteye before he wakes her.

In hindsight, he should have realized he was a goner the moment he started watching her _sleep._ He's playing with fire, he knows it but yet he can't seem to step away. For seven years he's pride himself in his self-control and his ability to compartmentalize his feelings, but one little kiss and suddenly everything he's learned, everything that was forced on him, goes right out the window.

He knows its wrong, these feelings he has for Felicity, feelings he's almost spilled more times than he cares for. This life he chose, this does not allow for those feelings and he _knows_ that, but what's worse is that she's aware of it now and he's unsure how long he can keep her at a distance.

Things were going great until she got kidnapped _again_ , after the island, after he didn't deny her claims, didn't _admit_ to anything either, but things were going well for them. She started a new job, was excited at the prospects and he was happy for her. He was good with the new status quo between them and although he would find himself thinking back on that kiss in the most inappropriate of times, he was still able to keep things to himself and appear like that kiss was all in the past. But then, Felicity would do something or say something and he would spiral all over again.

He'd see Felicity nibbling on one of her pens in the foundry and he'd flashback to the feel of her soft lips against his, and the soft little sigh she made when he pressed his lips more firmly against hers.

It happened at the most inappropriate of times, but more often or not he'd be on his way out to parole and take his frustration out on unsuspected criminal or Felicity would be on _her_ way out to work or home and he'd be left alone to deal with it _another_ way.

It wasn't healthy, he _knew_ that but it was the best he could do.

However, everything changed when Felicity was kidnapped last week. Not only did the guilt he felt of not even realizing she was missing for _two_ days, but just the thought of her being taken from him terrified him to his very core and it was in that moment he realized he could not ignore his feelings.

He'd even make a silent promise to himself that he'd finally tell her how he felt. It was a promise out of sheer desperation and just something to hold on to, even though he knew that exchanging himself for her safety was practically a suicide mission on its own.

When she was safely back with them, he decided to that celebrating her return was the perfect excuse to break out that bottle of wine he had promised her. He'd had hid in his old trunk _months_ ago when he finally was able to get a bottle of it, but just never knew when would be the right time to give it to her. Celebrating her return seemed the best way to right his wrongs from her _last_ kidnapping and he'd hope that he'd be able to finally tell her how he felt.

As with most of his best laid plans, that involve Felicity, they go nothing like he hoped.

On one hand Oliver was glad to get that off his chest, even if Felicity wasn't awake for it, on the other hand he's glad that she did fall asleep, he suspects that confessing his love for her while they were both under the influence of wine is just as bad as confessing it while trying to fool an evil, vindictive son of a bitch.

Oliver's body tenses when he feels Felicity arm land across his lower abdomen, her fingers curling into the waistband of his shorts and she tugs her body closer to his.

The loft was still far too warm for Oliver to wear a t-shirt but he had at least pulled on a shorts over his boxer-briefs knowing they would be sharing a bed, what he didn't expect was for Felicity to be in similar attire including a thin tank top. He'd gone to bed earlier than her feigning exhaustion _just_ to avoid seeing her get ready for bed. He felt as though watching Felicity do something as intimate as getting ready for bed would be to imposing. Maybe it was just too much for him to handle, or maybe it was just is way of putting distance between them after Felicity declared that the kiss they shared was just no more than a ruse, a fake out to get Slade's attention.

All this time Oliver assumed that she thought it was more, he thought she felt the same way that he did, and maybe she did. Maybe, she _did_ feel the same way, but then Oliver took too long to do something about it and now she's moved on, now he's lost his chance.

He's too late.

He can feel the curve of her breasts pressing against the jagged edge of one of his scars, but what causes his breath to catch in his throat is when Felicity tosses a long leg over his hip, slipping it between both his legs. He can feel her bare knee pressing into his inner thigh, her equally bare calf rubbing against his own, sending jolts of pleasure through his body, and Oliver can't control the way his body reacts even if he wanted to.

He needs to ease out from under her grasp, move her to her side of the bed and put some distance between them, but despite knowing this he's yet to move almost as though his body is drawn to hers like opposite poles of a magnet. He knows he should move, but his body seems to only crave her warmth.

"Mhmm…cheesecake." Felicity mutters softly against his chest and although all he can see is a mop of messy blonde hair Oliver is almost certain that he can hear her smacking her lips and he can't hold back his laughter this time, shaking them both.

"Oliver?" Felicity whispers, her voice laden with sleep as she rubs her nose against chest.

"Go back to sleep." Oliver soothes, his hand awkwardly rubbing her back and once again he's reminded how out of his element he truly is.

His entire body tenses as he waits for her to come to her senses and freak out on him, but to his great relief Felicity only murmurs incoherently before she slips back into slumber.

He takes that cue to gently ease Felicity off of his chest and moves her to her side of the bed. His fingers linger on her cheekbone as he watches the way her nostrils flare as she snores softly.

He once again finds himself getting lost in watching her sleep and with a heavy heart he puts further distance between them realizing that his one sided feelings for her is probably for the best. He can't possibly give her what she deserves and he decides that he's going to have to try harder to bury these feelings that are clearly one sided.

For the first time ever Oliver is grateful for all times he's learned to bury his emotions on the island.

* * *

 _ **One Week Ago.**_

 _Felicity eyes widen as the cork flies off the bottle, the moment the arrow hit its target still has Oliver grinning from ear to ear even after they both took a seat on the newly purchased bed, which was more like a futon couch, long enough to fit Oliver's tall frame._

" _We don't have wine glasses, I hope this will do?" Oliver asks suddenly nervous as he holds up two green plastics cups that are usually used at parties._

 _Felicity had bought a water cooler into the foundry the previous year and when she found the green plastic cups she was so tickled by it that she continued to buy them for the team._

" _My mother would probably be appalled that I'm even drinking wine in a plastic cup, but she'd let it pass if she knew the company I was sharing it with." Felicity says with ease. She then pulls back and looks at the cup in horror, the cup she has yet to take a sip from. "Jesus, I haven't even taken a sip yet and already I'm being inappropriate."_

" _You're fine." Oliver says with a small laugh and holds up his cup to hers, "Cheers?"_

" _What are we toasting to?" She asks curiously, her blue eyes clear and bright._

 _Oliver falters at her question, now is his moment, she gave him the perfect opening to get the ball rolling, but he takes one look at her eyes all warm and inviting and immediately clamps up. Felicity seems to take pity on his lack of words and smiles at him. "To my partner who always has my back, no matter what."_

 _Oliver's heart clenches at her words, the guilt that has been festering deep in him rearing its ugly head once again. He doesn't feel like the best partner in the world, not after it took him_ _ **two**_ _days to realize she was even missing and almost twice as long to find her. He doesn't deserve her praise, but he takes one look at her hopeful expression and he knows he can't find it in himself to crush her like that. She's been through too much for Oliver to bring her down with his doom and gloom, as she so affectionately calls it when she finds him brooding._

" _To partners." Oliver echoes this plastic cups knocking together._

 _Oliver watches as Felicity swishes the cups a few times and then takes a tentative sip, his own cup forgotten as he is mesmerized by the long expanse of her neck as she tips her head back and swallows the wine. A soft moan just barely escapes her lips as she savors the taste, humming in approval, that moan causing Oliver's blood to rush south almost immediately, and he can feel his face heat up. Oliver takes a sip of his own wine, hoping he can at least pass his flush features on the alcohol and not his reaction to Felicity._

" _Oh! This is the stuff." Felicity moans out in delight, "I'm not even sorry at the poor excuse of wine glasses. Like I know that this kind of wine should not be drunk out of beer cups, but honestly this wine speaks for itself."_

 _Oliver only chuckles in response, watching as Felicity takes a generous sip of her wine every few words. He barely touches his own, more content on watching Felicity enjoy it, if he had known_ _ **this**_ _was the kind of reaction he'd get for getting her the bottle; he would have tried to spring for an entire case like he'd lied about initially._

" _You know, at the rate we are going with putting the bad guys away, you might actually be out of_ _ **this**_ _job too." Felicity says thoughtfully as she holds up her cup for Oliver to top up._

 _Oliver knows immediately that the wine is giving her a loose tongue otherwise she would have been a bit remorseful for her comment. Instead, she's leaning against the back of the futon her now full cup already to her lips as she looks up at him with smile._

" _I've been talking to Walter lately, he's giving me a few pointers to win the board over." Oliver admits quietly, he hasn't told anyone his plans to regain his family's company and this time actually do the work that's required of him._

" _Oh yay!" Felicity says excitedly, clapping her hands, but then giggles when some of the wine sloshes in the cup. "I was hoping you'd decided to grab the bull by its horns, so to speak, and take back your family's company…and I'm not just saying this as a newly unemployed IT expert."_

" _I may not be qualified for the job, but it's my family's company I can't just let it go." Oliver confesses as he sinks into the futon next to her._

" _Nope. No can do." Felicity shakes her in negative, agreeing with him wholeheartedly, she then sits up looking at him eagerly, still drinking her wine, "I know! I'll help you. I'll train you to be a corporate master of the universe."_

 _Oliver grins at her offer, he knows it's partially the wine but he also thinks the wine is affecting_ _ **him**_ _when he finds himself nodding in agreement as he takes a sip of his own wine. "Think you're up for the challenge? I've been told that I'm not a very good student."_

 _The words tumble out of his mouth before he can catch himself. He's flirting with her, he and Felicity rarely flirty, and certainly not with_ _ **him**_ _initiating it. He looks at her nervously, but the tension eases out of his body when he sees her smiling up at him, her pupils are dilated, her cheeks flushed and he knows that this cup is going to be her last one._

" _You didn't have_ _ **me**_ _for a teacher though. You'll fine I can be very convincing." Felicity says coyly, and Oliver almost spills his cup in surprise. Felicity then breaks out into giggles and looks at her cup accusingly, "Wine, you're always my BFF until you throw me under the bus. Friendship. Over."_

 _This time Oliver doesn't even hold back his laughter at her disgruntled expression. He's seen many facets of Felicity, from stubborn, babbling, brilliant and brave, but he thinks drunk Felicity might be his new favourite._

 _He wants nothing more that to continue this conversation, but he also knows he doesn't want to encourage her especially when she's in this state, not wanting her to embarrass herself in front of him._

" _I'll hold you to that, Miss Smoak."_

 _Apparently he can stop her from embarrassing herself, but he failed to realize that he needed to stop himself. He looks across at her about to apologize but stops when he sees her eyes are closed and her cheek is nuzzling the soft material of the futon._

" _I bought the futon incase you in case you refused the bed, it could be disguised as a couch." Felicity whispers her confession, her nose scrunching up as though she's telling him a secret. "Bought it two weeks ago when I realized you were sleeping in the Arrow cave. You saving my life was just the perfect excuse to use as a thank you gift. You make being your friend so difficult, sometimes."_

 _Her voice is low now and the sadness stabs at Oliver's chest and before he can stop himself he's shifting closer to her, his voice matching her own as he speaks, "I'm sorry."_

" _S'okay, you're worth it." Felicity whispers._

 _Her eyelashes flutter as she peers up at him shyly, her nose rubbing against the soft material of the futon Oliver can already tell she's beginning to fade. He takes the empty cup from her hands, the soft tips of her fingers grazing against his skin and sending a jolt through his body as he pulls the cup from her. She sighs softly in protest, but only rubs her nose, not fighting Oliver for taking her wine. If Oliver's face wasn't inches away from Felicity's he would have missed her next words. "I wish you realized that."_

" _Felicity…I…I'm trying." He confesses, his eyes are trained on the pink tinted lipstick stain on Felicity's cup as he speaks, not having the courage to look at her as he speaks. "I know I can be…difficult at times. I don't want you to think your efforts are for nothing…I'm trying to be better. I want to be better...for you."_

 _When he finally plucks up the courage to look at her, he falters when he sees that her face is pressed into the back of the futon, her mouth slightly parted as she sleeps soundly. Her glasses are slightly skewed but Oliver can't help but smile at how adorable she looks, even as a small bit of drool makes its way down the corner of her mouth._

 _Oliver slips the glasses off her face and then tucks a stray bit of blond hair behind her ear, his thumb just barely grazing against her cheek as he whispers softly into the stillness of the foundery. "I think I'm in love with you."_

* * *

The sun shines down over the bed, slowly pulling her from her slumber. Thoughts of cheesecake are the first things that comes to her and she sniffs the air softly, her sleep laden mind still slightly confused. Felicity feels a heavy arm over her torso, rough fingertips pressed against her bare stomach, hidden beneath her tank top. She feels the heat of Oliver's body radiating behind her, his leg nestled between hers the coarse hairs on his legs tickle her bare skin.

She tries to move away, put some distance between their bodies, but Oliver only curls his arm around her tighter pulling her back flush against his chest. She squeaks out in surprise shifting slightly, when she feels something hard nestled between her ass cheeks her entire body freezes in surprise. She waits for Oliver to wake up and release his hold on her but Oliver only nuzzles his face in her hair and presses himself against her ass cheeks.

This time Felicity can't help but moan softly in response, she can feel the full length of him, firmly nestled between her cheeks. Her thin sleeping shorts leaving nothing to her already vivid imagination. She knows she should pull away but instead she rocks backwards biting her lip to hold back her moan.

Oliver though hums in approval, his hot breath tickling her neck his hand trailing down her stomach. When his fingers just barely graze the waistband of her shorts she knows she needs to put a stop to this, despite her body's protest. Oliver would never forgive himself if he wakes up and realizes he's practically dry humping her in his sleep, despite the fact she is a very willing participant in the equation.

She grabs him by the wrist but then gasps out in surprise when Oliver slips his hand out of hers and places her hand low on her mound pressing their clasps hands against the soft material of her sleep shorts.

"Felicity." He moans softly, his nose nudging her jaw as he hums in appreciation and Felicity knows that he's not longer asleep. His even breaths are now soft pants against her skin.

He slowly rocks against her ass pressing his erection further between her ass cheeks. Felicity hums in approval, the heat radiating off of Oliver completely encompassing her, the feel of his solid body pressed up against hers warming her inside out.

"Oliver." She pants out his name, her voice echoing in the small loft.

She takes his hand and guides it under the waistband of her shorts, but just as their fingers press against the coarse curls at her mound Oliver entire body stills and he extracts himself from Felicity's embrace so much so that Felicity almost is tumbling off the side of the bed in surprise.

"I'm sorry." Oliver apologizes his voice is strained, "I shouldn't have...I wasn't...I'm sorry."

"Oliver!"

Her protest goes on deaf ears however as Oliver grabs his pillow clutching it to his front and avoids looking her in the eye, she can see the way his fingers clench around the pillow his knuckles going white.

The same hand just moments ago was down her pants. The memory of the feel of his coarse fingertips against her heated skin causes her to flush.

"I'll just sleep on the couch."

"Oliver! You don't have to go! Oliver!" Felicity calls out to him again, but growls when he mutters a soft apology one more time before he disappears below the stairs.

Felicity plops back onto the centre of their bed muttering angrily to herself. She _knew_ she should have trusted her instincts and just pulled away the moment she woke up. She wants to go down their, confront him, fight him, demand to know why he pulled away like that, but then she remembers his look of horror and she can't find it in her to go after him. She's not ready to face that rejection.

She curls into herself leaving Oliver's side of the bed bare and eventually drifts off wondering how she's going to deal with this in the morning. How is she going to look him in the eye after she encouraged him to put his _hand_ down her pants.


	5. Chapter 5

The next time Felicity wakes up she's no longer surrounded by Oliver's warmth, but instead the sun casts a warm glow over the bed, the small loft baking in the summer heat. She has since kicked off the blanket due to the heat but as the previous night's events come back to her, Felicity's entire body goes ice cold. She listens closely for any movement but the loft is still as night, not even the humming of the central air can be heard. She sits up slowly and peers over the small balcony but sees no sign of Oliver, but she refuses to check to see if is sleeping form is on the couch.

After taking much longer than normal to complete her morning ritual she finally drags herself down the small stair cases when her stomach wins her over her need to just hold up in the bedroom despite the fact she knows she can't stay there forever.

When she walks into the open area she sighs partially in relief and partially in frustration. She and Oliver can't avoid each other forever, even if she wish it were possible. They are staying in this loft for a reason and focusing on the mission should be their main concern.

She goes to help herself with the last pieces of pizza and pauses when she sees a small note scribbled on the box.

 _Felicity,_

 _Went to the grocery for some food. Text me if you need anything in particular. Going to scope out the apartment as well_

 _Oliver._

She pauses in surprise not really expecting the note, she remembers they talked about how they would approach infiltrating the apartment as well as getting basic things like food.

She had started making a list of things she needed the previous night and quickly sends Oliver the list. Not really paying attention as she fiddles with the oven to warm her pizza. She can be such a pizza snob, refusing to warm it in the microwave because she hates soggy pizza dough.

She pulls up the schematic of the apartment complex and keeps herself occupied until the front door slams open and Oliver walks in with three large bag of groceries. She's about to make a quip about him carrying the groceries until their eyes catch and she's brought back to the previous night.

"Oliver..."

"I got your text." Oliver cuts her off as he tosses the bags onto the center counter. "I got everything on the list and I was thinking about using one of those arrows you made with the camera and sending it into the apartment from small window that's open. I checked it and the window is still open."

The abrupt change in conversation has her so startled she can barely process his words. She shakes her head when he looks at her expectantly, his face blank and lacking any kind of emotion.

"We can't do that, this is the suburbs someone will notice. What we can do is just go and _knock_ , you know greet the neighbors with a casserole... or baked goods... or something."

"You know how to bake a casserole?" Oliver's asks skeptically, with just a hint of teasing in his voice.

When Felicity looks up at him to level him with a glare she falters at his unsure expression, obviously he had not meant to tease her like this. She hates this, hate this weird state they are in that they can't even joke with each other anymore all because of what she did.

What they both did, it's not like Oliver was not _lucid_ at the time.

Felicity just huffs softly, her shoulders dropping as she goes back to the bag of groceries that she was emptying. Oliver unsurprisingly does not say anything and follows her lead grabbing the large carton of milk to put in the fridge.

"No but we are in the suburbs we need to act accordingly. If they are really conducting some kind of drug manufacturing it's not like they would _welcome_ the casserole."

"I want to know what we're up against before we go off half cocked."

"Well, climbing the balcony or worse, shooting an _arrow_ is not the way to go." Felicity says stubbornly. "We can go disguised as their neighbors asking for some _milk._ I don't know, but we aren't going to raise suspicion."

"We aren't sure how this drug is even administered." Oliver says in exasperation, "shouldn't we take some kind of precaution for that? From what we know this drug has people doing things without any kind of inhibition and Detective Lance said the new batch are causing health problems and…"

"Oliver, I know all this." Felicity says patiently, "I know you have been hesitant about me going on the field but we can't keep going like this. Either I'm fully on the team or not at all."

Her ultimatum comes out suddenly but she does not take it back. This will not be the last time she needs to go on the field and Oliver's over paranoid nature is not conducive to her getting her job done. She knows both her kidnappings happening so close together has spooked not only him but _her._ But they can't go on like this.

"Alright." Oliver concedes, "you're right. I'm sorry."

"Okay." Felicity says with a nod surprised by his apology as well as his acceptance.

They put away the last of the grocery in silence until Oliver calls out to her, "Felicity."

His voice is soft, tentative and Felicity heart surges with hope. She puts her box of nesquik cereal on the counter next to his muesli, and slowly turns around trying to not too hopeful and the prospect of finally discussing what happened the previous night. When he tosses her a medium size brown paper bag, his cheeks slightly pink she only frowns in confusion. She peeks inside the bag and then her own face flames in embarrassment.

" _Oliver_ ," bemoans slightly, the bag now clutched to her chest and she can see the hot pink label of one of _many_ tampons boxes in the bag.

"I didn't know which to get so I kinda just picked up three different kinds. I hope those were the right ones. The receipt in there if you…" He trails off as he rubs his neck his eyes finally flickering to catch hers.

"I sent you the wrong list. This was my old list from last week. I'm sorry...I wouldn't have never….I was distracted this morning and I…"

"I thought you….when I left like I did last night, and this morning without talking." Oliver fumbles over his own words and they are both trying to rectify the situation. "I thought you were testing me...or something."

Felicity sighs in frustration, and squares her shoulders as she speaks, "Oliver we need to talk."

"Felicity…"

"No. No more excuses we need to talk about last night and the last _month_. We can't keep going like this. It makes no sense for me to be on this team and helping you if we can't even discuss _arrow_ stuff if there is this underlying _thing_ between us. Who knows? Maybe I'm the only one who is seeing something that's not there. Maybe I've let my own emotions affect my judgement and I thought you felt the same way. Maybe it's only one sided and I'm sorry if I…"

"It's not one sided." Oliver cuts her off, his cheeks reddening but he looks at directly at her as he speaks, "it's not one sided. You're not the only one who feels that way. I feel...it's not one sided."

"Oh. Okay." Felicity's heart hammers in her chest, she never expected him to admit to that. To practically admit his feelings to _her._ Her mind goes blank, she is unsure where to go from here. Well she _does_ but just never expected to hear that from Oliver. "Right, well we should talk about this. Last night and I…"

"Later." Oliver cuts her off but when she goes to protest he takes a step toward her and squeezes her shoulder. "After we put these guys away. No distractions. Just you and me and maybe we can finish that bottle of wine we didn't get to last week?"

His voice is soft and hopeful and Felicity breath hitches at his close proximity. He's not wrong, they need to focus on this mission and they can't with this _thing_ between them affecting their work.

"Okay." She grabs her tablet and presents it to him, "I searched for the person that the lease is under, hoping we'd get a lead but unsurprisingly it's a fake name. I sent the information to Laurel and hoping that she might be able to "lawyer" her way around that legalities. I have a photo and I'm doing a search now hoping to figure out who exactly is renting out this apartment. The monthly agreement like what we signed could affect us from finding out exactly who it is. I just need to access their database and it will be the final puzzle piece."

"Alright, are we _both_ going to go for milk?" Oliver asks with uncertainty his fingers scrape against his stubble a sign that he's slightly out of his element.

"I guess? We can just say we're new to the neighborhood and wanted to introduce ourselves?" Felicity suggests, she too feels out of place.

She's lived in her little townhouse for two years now and other than her neighbor who always loses her cat, she's not familiar with any of them. As for Oliver, she's pretty sure there isn't a house near the Queen mansion for at least 10 miles, neighbors is a foreign concept to Oliver.

"We're kind of hopeless, aren't we?" Oliver asks with a grin.

Felicity only laughs in response they are both aware of the double meaning behind his words, "pretty much."

"Let me just change out of these clothes and we can go." Felicity says after a moment.

"What's wrong with that?" Oliver asks looking at her sweatpants and ratty old MIT t-shirt in confusion.

"I look like a hobo, Oliver." She says in exasperation.

She walks off towards the stairs her cheeks flaring when Oliver tells her that's she looks nice. A few minutes later she comes flying down the stairs in a jean shorts and tank top and her small bag with her supplies.

"Ready?"

She's busy patting down her shorts to make sure she has the flash drives in her pocket and doesn't notice the way Oliver's eyes linger over her bare legs.

"Oliver?"

"Yes. Let's go." Oliver says quickly. She looks at him curiously but he only ushers her silently out of the room.

* * *

"Are we sure breaking in is the best plan?" Felicity asks nervously as she paces the small area on lookout for anyone coming, "I mean it's obvious these people have some high tech resources. I can't even breach their systems, who's to say they don't have an alarm system set up with this to alert a break in?"

"They most likely do." Oliver says matter of factly as he fiddles with the door handle a short metal device between his teeth as he works on the lock. "We just have to get in and out before they get back."

"That's comforting." Felicity responds dryly. She spins around to face him her forehead wrinkling slightly, "I wasn't aware picking locks was something you'd need on a supposedly deserted island."

"Didn't learn it on the island."

"Of course you did not."

When Oliver doesn't elaborate Felicity only rolls her eyes in response, she's about to remark, maybe try and get him to divulge a little bit more info. Maybe, he'll tell her where he learned to fly a _plane_ of all things - no she will _neve_ r let that one go - but then the front door opens with a soft click and she sobers up as she follows him into the apartment. When they enter a small hallway she hums softly in surprise.

"I guess not all the apartments are the same then."

"This might be the two bedroom place, Angie was referring too." Oliver suggests as he walks further into the apartment, gesturing her to follow, "C'mon let's look for their computers."

"No need." Felicity says on spotting router and modem neatly tucked under a side table. She moves over to the modem and immediately pops in one of her USBs, "Their firewall is insanely advanced, but thats for their wifi, now that I have this little guy I can sidestep all of it and access their mainframe. We're sure this is the place of the drug manufacture and not something else right?"

"What else could it be?" Oliver asks incredulously standing at the first doorway and peering around the corners for anyone else.

"They could be running a porn business and just extra cautious." She suggests as he fingers fly across her keyboard.

"Felicity."

"You'd be surprised how many of those industries are done in little suburban buildings just like this." She says seriously never taking her eyes away from the screen.

When she doesn't get a response she looks across at Oliver to see that he has his head tilted to the side a grin gracing his features, "Do I even want to know how you know this?"

"You'd be surprised the things I find when I'm bored and on a hacking binge." She says throwing him a cheeky grin of her own.

"I'll check the area out and make sure there isn't a bed and camera around." Oliver quips, but then falters when he realizes the implication behind his words, he turns to felicity eyes wide, "I didn't...I wasn't...that.."

"Usually, I'm the one talking in sentence fragments." Felicity teases.

"I'm going to look around." Oliver says with a slight huff only causing Felicity to grin more.

Felicity watches the last of the the download complete and just as she pulls out the flash drive Oliver's harsh tone has her on high alert almost immediately. She slips things into her bag and quickly move towards Oliver despite his warning _not_ to come.

"Oliver?"

"Don't come in here! We need to get out of here." Oliver says urgently. He's standing in the middle of the kitchen and surrounding him is a handful of large pots with something bubbling on the stove a slight purple smoke emitting from the surface, "I think we just figured out how they were planning to administer the new version of this drug. _Felicity_."

"It's aerosolized!" Felicity gasps in horror just as she takes in a deep breath, the sweet smelling drug overtaking her senses almost immediately.

" _Felicity!_ " Oliver says urgently already ushering her out of the kitchen but they both freeze when they hear the lock turning at the front door. "Fuck. This way."

He grabs her by the arm and practically hauls her into the nearest room.

"Oliver, a closet isn't the best hiding place." She hisses softly.

Her heart is strumming in her chest and she seems to be acutely aware of her surroundings, the way a soft breeze tickles the back of her thighs from the window behind her, the soft material of her sandals slightly cutting into the back of her heels. Her body is flushed and she knows it's not fromt the sudden adrenaline rush of almost being caught, her body is attuned to things around her more so than normal.

Something isn't right, she can feel the heat radiating from Oliver despite the fact that he's standing a few feet from her as far as the small room will allow. She looks across at him and suddenly her entire body flushes with heat, her clothes feels restricting as arousal begins to simmer with in her.

"Oliver."

Her voice is a soft whispered plea, she doesn't even know what she's asking for her body is just a buzz of energy as the voices outside get louder.

"Felicity." Oliver practically pants her name she can see the way he clenches his fists as his eyes roam over her body.

This is not good. Not good at all.

"We need to get out of here." She knows he's referring to impending death that's probably awaiting them behind the door but her mind goes in a totally different scenario and why they should get out of her and what they could be doing and her body heats up at all the ideas racing through her mind.

"Unless you have a jet pack hiding under you shirt and you can _fly_ us out of that window the only way out is through that door," she's panting now the need practically clawing at her skin begging to come out. She watches the way oliver's eyes dilate and when his tongue swipes across his bottom lip she moans softly unable to stop herself. "Fuck."

"It's the drug." Oliver says unnecessarily, fingers clenched at his side as he makes his way towards her and she's unsure if he's aware that he's moving.

"They said it lowers inhibition, but my heart. My hearts racing and I'm starting to feel light headed." Felicity whispers, the need is still coursing through her veins but the fear is beginning to set it. This is not just her inhibitions being lowered its something else entirely.

"Fuck. We need to get you out of here." Oliver growls an action that causes makes her go weak at the knees as wetness pool between her legs she's never reacted so strongly to just Oliver's voice before. "Felicity, can you hear me? Felicity?"

Her knees buckle and if Oliver didn't reach towards her she would have collapsed to the floor. Her fingers scrape across his chest, fingernails digging into his firm bicep and she moans softly. "What's happening to me?"

"I'm not sure." Oliver says tensely.

He hisses when she presses her body against his and she can feel his hardness between her legs. He obviously is having a reaction as well just he's able to control himself far more than she can control herself, "Oliver."

"I think it's aphrodisiac," Oliver moans softly, "but I think it's geared towards women. Detective Lance said that they think they've been planning to start trafficking women. I feel….I feel…"

"Horny?" She gasps out as she rocks against against his hips hissing when she feels the rough material of his jeans brush against her bare leg.

"Yes, but it's something else." Oliver says with a frown.

Felicity doesn't understand how he can think at a time like this when she's practically purring against his body and she can't stop herself. " _Oliver_ , just kiss me already."

"Felicity I don't think…" Oliver's protests died on his lips the moment Felicity presses _her_ lips to hers.

The moment lips met it was as if a fire had been ignited within her and suddenly they were a frenzy of limbs, teeth clattering, tongues sweeping and they practically clawing at each other. Oliver' hot breath tickles her neck just his stubble grazing against her overly sensitive skin, her fingers tugging at his t-shirt forcibly. She moans his name softly as his tongue dances along the soft curves of her breasts before he tugs her tank top down forcibly growly when he realizes she's not wearing a bra.

He spins them around and pushes her up against a sink, and it's only when the cold porcelain touches her bare skin does she become aware that they are in a bathroom. The moment Oliver's lips wrap around her nipple she hisses out his name.

Her sense are on overdrive, she can practically feel every inch of her body from the tips of her toes to the hairs on the back of her neck, all of it responding to Oliver's touch in a way she's never imagined...never experienced before and all she wants...all she needs is _more._

She cards her fingers through Oliver's short blond hair, gripping it firmly pressing him into her as she pants out his name begging him for more. When his teeth graze across her sensitive nipple she yells out in surprise, her body bowing, her hips rocking against Oliver's firm body as she finds herself falling into the abyss moaning out Oliver's name.

Oliver pulls back, hissing softly when she doesn't loosen her hold on his hair, his eyes are wild, his lips red and swollen, "Did you just…"

"It's the _drug_." Felicity pants out her cheeks pink and rosy.

She should be embarrassed, she should apologize, do _something,_ but all she can think about is Oliver's tongue and what else he can do with it, from the way Oliver's eyes dilate, and he licks his lips she knows that for once they are on the same wavelength. His fingers are already working on the zipper of her jean shorts when the a loud bang brings the back to reality and they both freeze, Oliver's eyes hardening.

"Who the fuck is in there?" A loud voice bellows as the door rattles and Felicity knows that the flimsy latch at the door is not going to keep anyone out.

As more voices are heard, the eager chatter, the sleazy comments, Felicity knows that they heard them, know what she and Oliver were getting up to and her blood runs cold. She can hear several voices, and she knows the tight quarters they are in are not going to work in their favour.

She freezes in fright as Oliver seems to move into overdrive, he's zipping up her pants while yanking up her top simultaneously and once she's properly covered he's moving at lightning speed, towards the window.

"We've got to go." Oliver all but growls holding out a hand towards her.

Felicity eyes the window uneasily, "I was kidding about the jet pack."

"There is a ledge on the outside of this window." Oliver says quickly already shoving the window open with one big grunt and then holds out his hand to her as the door continues to rattle, "C'mon I'll give you a boost."

"Where are we going once we're on this ledge?" Felicity asks nervously but follows his lead nonetheless, "You don't exactly have your grappling arrow in your back pocket."

"Our balcony is a few feet below we just have to jump to the next door neighbours ledge and then down to our balcony. " Oliver hoists her into the air with ease but as she slips through the window she remembers her bag that slipped off her shoulder in the heat of the moment.

"Oliver, my bag!"

"I got it, go on. Just don't look down." He warns.

Naturally, as he says that Felicity looks down and she immediately feels the bile rising up in her throat but instead, looks to the ledge only about three feet away and and tightens her hold on the window pane and quickly eases herself onto the ledge. She then frowns when she hears the door slam open followed by some grunts. Felicity stomach drops and she's just about to go back and crawl through the window when Oliver head peaks out through the window her bag hanging around his neck.

She breathes a sigh of relief as he jumps down to the ledge and spins around slamming the window shut and then makes his way towards her. He gestures to their small balcony that's just about 10 feet below them, "C'mon. I slammed the door in their face, they are going to come looking and I don't want them to see us here. I'll go first then I'll catch you."

She doesn't even have time to process his words before he leaps off the ledge and lands with a thud in their balcony. He's gesturing wildly for her to jump, but her legs are unable to cooperate.

"Felicity." He hisses out, but his features softens when he sees the fear in her eyes, "Jump down, not out. I'll catch you. I promise."

She can hear rattling above her and she knows they are running out of time, _she_ is running out of time. Oliver calls out to her one last time and without thinking about it she closes her eyes and drops down and lands with a soft thud in a familiar firm arms. Before she can slip out of his grasp however, Oliver's moving towards the glass doors and while still holding her he slides open the door and slips inside just as a loud growl can be heard outside.

"Holy shit, that was close." Felicity says her heart now hammering in her chest as Oliver places her back on her feet.

But Oliver doesn't release his hold on her, instead his hand moves to cup her chin while he presses his fingers against her neck clearly checking her pulse, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Felicity promises, but her words to little to ease his worries, she wraps her fingers around his wrist pulling his hand from her neck, and forcing him to look her in the eye, "I'm okay. The drug is out of my system I think we were only exposed to a small amount. I don't feel light headed anymore or….or the other symptoms. Are _you_ okay?"

"I'm sorry." Oliver implore ignoring her question and focusing on her, "I shouldn't have lost control like that. Especially when you were in...in the state you were in."

"Oliver, we were both hit with the drug, it's hardly your fault, I was practically climbing you like a tree." Felicity quips, but when Oliver doesn't smile she sighs, "Oliver, you hardly took advantage of me if I remember correctly I came onto _you_. If anything I should be apologizing to _you."_

"You weren't in your right state of mind." Oliver dismisses looking at her worriedly, "this drug completely altered your thoughts and needs. It's like it fed on your libido. I should have gotten you out of there the minute I saw the pots on the stove."

"Oliver, you can't possibly blame yourself for us getting hit with the drug. As far as we knew the drug was not aerosolized until now, in fact we caught it before it can be distributed into the market. If anything we saved tons of women from being subjected to it. I forwarded all the information to detective Lance already. The police should be on their way before those people even have time to pack up and find a new place. This one goes down in the win column for us."

But her words seem to have little effect on Oliver and her heart plummets as he takes a step away from her and shakes his head, "No that drugs, it fed on my emotions my basic instincts and affected my ability to focus. All I saw was _you_. All I wanted was _you."_

Felicity heart sores at his words, "I don't see how that can be seen as bad thing. In case you didn't realize my body reacted just as strongly to _you_. The need that I had? That need wasn't just some itch that I was looking for anyone to scratch it was for _you_. My body was attuned to _yours."_

"We don't know that for sure." Oliver protests, "what I do know is I let my emotions distract me and it almost got us killed. I can't take that kind of risk, not in the field and certainly not with your life."

"What are you saying?" Felicity asks her heart clenching and she tries to keep her eyes from filling with tears.

"Felicity, don't ask me to say it." Oliver pleads his voice breaking he tries to take a step towards her bit Felicity only shakes her head and takes a step back.

"No. I need you to say it. I need you to spell it out for me."

"I can't...this thing between us...it can't happen." Oliver whispers, his eyes downcast and he can't even find it in himself to look at her, only breaking Felicity's heart more. "I can't get distracted on the field like that again. Not at the expense of your life. I won't."

"So what you're saying is you can't be the Arrow _and_ be with me." Felicity speaks her voice void of any emotions, "that I'm a distraction."

"No. Felicity..."

"It's fine." She says when it's anything but and they both know it. "It's better this way, that we call things off before anything else could happen and make it that much worse. This way we nip it in the bud before it could start."

"Felicity, I didn't mean…"

"It's fine, Oliver." Felicity voice is hard as she speaks and now _she_ is the one avoiding eye contact with _him. "_ I have to call detective Lance make sure he got all the information he needs to take down these idiots."

"Felicity."

"We have the apartment till the end of the month." Felicity says, "You can stay here till it ends, you need a proper place to sleep. I'll pack up my stuff and be out before the end of the day, or at least until the SCPD comes to raid the neighbors."

Her call to detective Lance goes through just as she finishes her speech and she focuses on the older man's words unable to listen to Oliver's soft protests her heart sinking as that small dash of hope is crushed before she can even blink.


End file.
